BANGLADESH

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has proposed to form a new non-military force by abolishing Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and halt trial of mutineers of then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on Wednesday.

The New York-based human rights body called on government to establish 'an independent investigative and prosecutorial task force with sufficient expertise, authority, and resources to rigorously investigate and prosecute allegations of human rights abuses after the (BDR) mutiny'.

"Until such an independent task force is established, existing prosecutors should investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute allegations of unlawful deaths, torture, and mistreatment of mutiny suspects, regardless of the rank or institutional affiliation of the person responsible," it said.

HRW made the proposals in a 57-page report titled "'The Fear Never Leaves Me': Torture, Custodial Deaths, and Unfair Trials After the 2009 Mutiny of the Bangladesh Rifles".

Asia Director of HRW Brad Adams demanded that authorities form a non-military unit or new force within the police by disbanding the anticrime elite force RAB.

He was speaking at a function at Brac Inn Centre in Dhaka to mark the publishing of the report.

Adams said the new force would consider human rights as its core value to fight against crime and terrorism.

He suggested the government should stop the BDR mutiny trial immediately and go back to the basic norms of fair trial to ensure justice over the mutiny and massacre in 2009.

HRW has alleged that the suspects in the 2009 BDR mutiny have been subjected to widespread abuse, torture, and deaths in custody. "The mass trials of nearly 6,000 suspects raise serious fair trial concerns."

Adams has called the process of trying the border guards in groups "unfair and flawed"

"Those responsible for the horrific violence that left 74 dead should be brought to justice, but not with torture and unfair trials," said Adams.

But he urged Bangladesh authorities to stop the current trial and close all the "unofficial places of detention" for interrogation of the guards "tomorrow".

"Mass trials like these simply cannot provide justice for victims, or real answers about who was responsible for the terrible crimes committed during the mutiny."

"The government must close all unofficial and secret places of detention. Everybody knows these places are there, the government has the mandate to do (close) this. It has an election pledge to stop torture (in custody)."

Adams categorically mentioned that these places of detention were run by RAB, DGFI and NSI, saying if these places were closed serious violation of human rights involving the border guards facing mutiny charges would stop substantially.

"The government's initial response to the mutiny was proportionate and saved lives by refusing army demands to use overwhelming force in a heavily populated area. But since then it has essentially given a green light to the security forces to exact revenge through physical abuse and mass trials," Adams added.

HRW said they interviewed over 60 people, including family members of the victims, prosecutors, defence lawyers, and journalists to prepare the report.

The report said it found at least 47 border guards have died in custody because of 'torture like beatings and giving electric shocks in custody'.

A fire at a house in Malaysia has left five Bangladeshis dead and two others injured.

The incident took place early Tuesday but details on the nature of the accident and the casualties were sketchy, Foreign Ministry's Director General (Consular) Laila Hossain told bdnews24.com on Tuesday.

Local people informed the Bangladesh Embassy in Kuala Lumpur of the accident, she said adding that the injured have been hospitalised.

Hossain said they were waiting for details.

Malaysian newspaper The Star, quoting national news agency Bernama, said five Bangladeshi men died in the fire that broke out around 3 am at Taman Puchong Perdana.

The dead were identified as Sarova Baboo, 'Ruman', Abdullah Al-Farhad and two brothers - Md Basir and Md Farouk.

The Bangladeshi nationals died when they were trapped in a double-storey terrace house they had rented, the report says.

The report quoted Selangor Fire and Rescue Department operations chief Mohamad Sani Harul as saying that the five were aged between 24 and 40.

He said seven Bangladeshi nationals were staying in the house but two of them survived while the other five were trapped in two rooms upstairs as they could not break the iron window grilles to get out, according to the newspaper report.

"A team from Bangladesh Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has gone to the scene. They will report after visiting the spot," the foreign ministry director general said.

The government has allocated 2,900 tonnes of rice and Tk 5 million in cash for the flood-affected people in five districts.

The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management on Wednesday allocated Tk 1 million and 500 tonnes of rice each for Sylhet, Gaibandha and Bogra districts, Tk 1 million and 800 tonnes of rice for Kurigram, and Tk 1 million and 600 tonnes of rice for Jamalpur district.

The government has so far allocated Tk 31.5 million and 10,300 tonnes of rice for the distressed people in the flood-hit areas.

According to the Disaster Management and Relief Division, around 810 special medical teams are now providing healthcare services to the people and monitor post-flood diseases in the affected areas.

The bdnews24.com Correspondent for Gaibandha district reported that though the waters in the Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Ghaghat rivers started going down, the flood-hit people were leading a miserable life with virtually no food, shelter and medical care.

Some 300,000 people have remained marooned by floodwaters in 26 unions in the district. The floodwaters have inundated most of the roads and many villages in the district.

G M Chowdhury Mithu, Ward Councillor of Gaibandha Municipality, said the floodwaters started receding in the district but the people were facing severe food crisis.

Gaibandha Relief and Rehabilitation Division Officer Shah Alam said the district administration so far distributed Tk 1.5 million in cash and 500 tonnes of rice among the flood-hit people.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said, the government will build Padma bridge for which the World Bank cancelled its pledged fund, with its own fund, if necessary.

She again outright rejected the World Bank's allegation of corruption in selection of the consultant for the coveted project and reaffirmed her government's position in Parliament that action will be taken against the guilty if charges of corruption against them are proved.

The Prime Minister responded to a supplementary question from independent lawmaker Fazlul Azim during her question-answer session on Wednesday.

Hasina said following the World Bank's fund cancellation, she already had a meeting with the Bangladesh Bank Governor, the Economic Relations Division and Finance Secretary regarding funding of the project.

"I've discussed with them how the construction work of the project can be started on our own fund. We must build the Padma bridge. It's not very much difficult to use our own reserve for this purpose by taking one billion dollars a year," she asserted.

Hasina further added: "We'll build the Padma bridge by any means Inshallah. It's possible if our economy moves on the right track despite the global economic meltdown."

"The World Bank has cancelled its funding. It's their will anyway. Others (lending agencies) can follow suit. We've a population of 160 million and 8 million expatriates to build the bridge."

She said the governments of many countries including Malaysia and many international agencies were interested in building the bridge under Public Private Partnership and under the Build-Own-Transfer basis. "Whatever decision we make, public interests will be given priority."

In her first reaction following the fund cancellation by the Washington-based global lender, the Prime Minister alleged that the World Bank came forward to pour money in the communications sector, but raised corruption allegations without any evidence.

"They didn't release even a single penny, then how can they say that corruption was committed [in the project]? Instead you'll find that it itself corrupt."

"It's essential to scrutinise who are behind it and what are their motives," she added.

Hasina urged all to go through the Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine to know about the World Bank's corruptions.

She `pointed out that the World Bank had suspended funding in the power, energy and communications sectors due to corruptions of the BNP-led four-party government. She added that her government started the work to upgrade the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway into four-lanes with its own fund.

She said the Bank suspended funding for seven projects including Dhaka-Mymensingh Four Lane Project. But, she noted, the BNP-led government did not change any minister over the Bank's allegation of corruption.

The Prime Minister said her government during her first spell in power in 1996- 2001 had envisaged the Padma bridge project, but the subsequent BNP government suspended its construction.

"None could raise any question about the transparency at any stage of the land acquisition and rehabilitation programmes involving Tk 15 billion. Even the World Bank report says that no corruption was committed in the acquisition process."

Referring to the communication with the World Bank officials on the Padma bridge issue, Hasina said after the Awami League-led coalition took office in 2009, senior consultant of the World Bank Isabella Lawen arrived Bangladesh. "She gave me two papers containing allegation of corruption in two projects during the time of the previous BNP government."

"Even so, as the World Bank was insisting, we changed the Minister concerned, the Secretary and the Project Director without any proof of corruption against them," the Prime Minister said.

Hasina alleged that the World Bank had proposed the name of a company as the consultant to the project. "They had sent us letters thrice. Our special committee found that the company was fake. If it's a fact, how was corruption committed in the project?"